Ezra Meeker's Ox Team in Motion is pictured in black and white on an old post card mailed to Mrs. Jennie Bush, Mt. Washington, Mo., in 1910. The legend on the reverse side of the card reads: Leading the Industrial Parade, Kansas City, Mo., October 5, 1910; preceded by thirty policemen and band, followed by drum corps; parade four miles long; Ezra Meeker in wagon; Mardon with oxen. The Industrial Parade was one of the daytime events of the Priests of Pallas week. Floats decorated by Downtown merchants made up the balance of the parade. The photo was made on one of several return trips to Kansas City by the scout and trail blazer who had originally blazed the Oregon Trail in 1852. Three points of interest to Meeker on these return trips were Fitzhugh's Mill (Watts Mill); Elm Grove, about 15 miles west of Kansas City; and Liberty Mo., where an early party of missionaries had landed and began a hazardous trip west up the bank of the Missouri. The 1852 journey across the country was a five-month struggle with an ox team over plains and mountains from Independence, Mo., to Portland, Ore., a distance of approximately 2,000 miles. Portland was then a small village, the state of Washington then unknown. Meeker was accompanied by his wife and small son. Much of Meeker's fame came when he recrossed the plains by oxteam in 1906, marking the old Oregon Trail with suitable landmarks, and again in 1910 and 1911. As a climax to his fame he crossed the continent in an airplane in 1924 at the age of 94. The airtrip from Seattle to Washington, D.C., was made in 24 hours. The aged Meeker attributed his vigor to plain living, plenty of God's fresh air and not too much indulgence in the bottle. Kansas City Times, June 14, 1985.
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